Running Away With You
by Krayola Krayon
Summary: After the war has started and Hogwarts closes down, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy discover that they both attend the same Muggle boarding school. What will happen when they decide to team up and run away? postHBP, HGDM
1. The School

**Hello! Yes, this is my first story. I don't know if this plot has been used before... I sure hope not. **

**So without further ado, I present to you the first chapter of Running Away With You. (cue applause)**

**Disclaimer: Now, let's just _assume_ for a moment that I own the world of Harry Potter... This story wouldn't exist, now would it? I would be busy writing the seventh book, not some silly fanfiction. Thus, we can conclude that I _don't_ own Harry Potter. _Que triste._**

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It wasn't like she _wanted_ to be there. No, no, the London Boarding School for the Academically Advanced was the _last_ place Hermione Granger wanted to be. But ever since the war started and Hogwarts closed down, she had nowhere to go in order to complete her education. And because Hogwarts was the only magical school for miles around, she was forced to attend this muggle school.

The Ministry of Magic had repeatedly offered her positions in their so-called "army," despite her young age. They believed her superior intelligence would guarantee them a victory against the Dark Side. However, Hermione had stubbornly refused each and every offer, declaring that she was one-hundred-and-ten percent non-violent. She would much rather talk it out peaceably and come to a compromise. But if that were what she wanted, her hopes would quickly be shattered.

So here she was, sitting on her bed in her dormitory, Room 209, on the second floor of House B, of the Girls' Seventh Year Wing of the School for the Academically Advanced. She was staring out the window at the slowly rising orb of fire over the distant mountains, watching the sky turn from a deep blue to a pale gray to pink, orange, and finally, light blue.

At precisely 7:30, Hermione's alarm went off, waking her roommates. She had forgotten to turn it off the night before. It was Saturday, and one of the agreements the girls had come to was that they could sleep in late on Saturday mornings.

Someone stirred in the bed behind Hermione's. "Mmph… Err-my-knee… wha dime izzit?" the girl mumbled groggily.

"Sorry, guys, it's Saturday. I forgot to turn my alarm off. You guys can go back to sleep," Hermione whispered in reply.

A soft snore soon told her that her roommates had fallen asleep again, so she turned back toward the window, sighing deeply.

_I hate it here,_ she thought bitterly. _I want to be back at Hogwarts. I miss Harry and Ron and Ginny. I wish they never joined the army. No, maybe I wish I joined the army with them. I wish V-Voldemort was dead so they could come back home. _

Her miserable thoughts continued for a few more minutes, until she decided that she was too hungry to think anymore. After quietly showering and dressing, Hermione headed down to the School's main cafeteria. She was in the mood for some homemade food, specially prepared by the numerous lunch ladies there.

She paused outside the grand oak doors of the huge room labeled "Cafeteria." For a moment, Hermione visualized that these doors were those of the Great Hall in Hogwarts, and when she opened them, she would see four long House tables lined up and the Staff table at the head of the room. The House tables would be packed with hungry students trying to finish a quick breakfast before classes started that day. She would see Harry, Ron, and Ginny beckoning for her to join them at the Gryffindor table, and she would happily sit down with them and enjoy her own breakfast.

But no, these plain doors opened to reveal twenty or so plastic foldable tables, randomly scattered in the room, where students had moved them in order to sit close to their friends. The staff of the School ate in a secluded Staff Room, a separate building elsewhere on campus.

Hermione sighed again and entered. She looked around for Harry, Ron, and Ginny, temporarily forgetting the one small detail that they were hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away from her at the moment. Every day she did this, hoping that, by some miracle, they would show up at her school.

She was terribly disappointed every day.

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Somewhere on the other edge of campus, in Room 217, on the second floor of House C, located in the Boys' Seventh Year Wing, a certain white-blond haired boy was just waking up. Like Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy did not want to be here. In fact, he liked the London Boarding School for the Academically Advanced even less than she did. Of course he would; after all, it _was_ a muggle school, while he was a pureblood, and proud of it.

His father, Lucius Malfoy, had tried to send Draco to Durmstrang after Hogwarts closed down. But before he could make the necessary arrangements, the Dark Lord had beckoned him to his side, and all plans were quickly forgotten. And because Draco had disappointed the Dark Lord in the attempted murder of Dumbledore, he was demoted from Death Eater to normal wizard. Ordinarily, the Dark Lord would have immediately finished Draco off for his failure, but Draco's mother, Narcissa Malfoy, had begged for the Dark Lord to spare her son and to take her instead. Thus, Draco Malfoy was left to live, and Narcissa Malfoy was wiped off the face of the earth.

One of Narcissa Malfoy's last wishes was that Draco continues his education. She insisted that he finish his last year of school, and then find a job that he enjoyed. She knew that he could never join the Dark Side after the Dark Lord spared him, so she wanted her only son to lead a full life. Therefore, Draco Malfoy was left with no choice but to attend the School for the Academically Advanced, despite his whining about how it was a _muggle_ school, how even death would be better.

On this particular Saturday morning, Draco awoke much earlier than usual. He tended to sleep in on weekends (and often on weekdays as well), but today, something jolted him awake before 8 o'clock. He sat up and looked around murderously, as if trying to spot someone pulling a prank on him in order to wake him up. When he found no one, he sighed and flopped back down on the bed.

It was useless trying to go back to sleep. Once he was awake, he stayed awake until sundown.

Groaning in frustration, Draco threw off the covers and glanced around his dormitory. For once, he was the first one of the three boys that inhabited this room to be up and about – he was usually the last. Just to vent his irritation at waking so early, he made as much noise as possible getting up.

No one stirred, which just annoyed Draco further.

He stormed out the door, slamming the door in his wake. Down the stairs he raged, all the while muttering to himself about how he was going to kill someone if something good didn't happen soon. Near the bottom of the stairs, he passed a nerdy-looking boy, who stared at him and backed away slowly as if he were some freaked psychopath on the loose. Draco narrowed his eyes and pretended he didn't notice.

Once outside, his feet automatically carried him to the Cafeteria. When Draco looked up from the ground again, he found himself standing in front of the great oak doors, which had just swung shut from someone else passing through them.

He sighed and kicked at a stray clump of dirt. _This place sucks balls. I belong back at Hogwarts, _he thought, not for the first time. _You can't even bloody use bloody magic in this bloody place! I hate it I hate it I hate it! Oh, and did I mention I hate this bloody place?_

By now, the clump of dirt had dissolved into a pile of powder at his feet, and people around him were giving him strange looks. He glared at them, visualizing daggers flying out of nowhere and stabbing each and every one of them. This gave him a slight feeling of satisfaction, but not much.

Draco threw open the grand oak doors with immense force, as if everything that goes wrong in his life is the doors' fault. He might have accidentally struck an innocent third year standing behind the doors, but he didn't care, all he cared about at the moment was getting out of this wretched place.

He crashed through the carelessly strewn tables, knocking over a stool here and there. When he reached an uninhabited table, he threw himself onto a particularly rickety-looking stool, which promptly shattered under his weight.

Draco couldn't take it anymore. This morning kept getting worse and worse. His anger and frustration reached its peak level, and he let out an ear-splitting yell. Furiously, he stormed out the Cafeteria the way he came, pushing aside whoever got in his way, causing them to spill whatever they were carrying. He couldn't care less.

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Hermione was picking at the blueberry muffin on her tray, taking a bite now and then. Suddenly, she heard a piercing shriek of anguish. Startled, she whirled around, looking for the source of the yell, only to see a boy about her age angrily marching out of the Cafeteria.

There was something peculiar about the boy. Something… familiar. Convinced that she was seeing things, Hermione rubbed her eyes and looked again, but she still saw the head of silvery hair. It couldn't be… Could it?

_No_, she convinced herself, _it most definitely couldn't._ And she went back to "eating" her muffin.

But a little nagging voice in the back of her mind kept whining. "You want to go see if it's really him, don't you?"

_No, I don't,_ she told the voice.

"You know you want to!"

_No. I. Do. Not, _she repeated firmly.

"Yes. You. Do!"

Finally, Hermione gave in to the little irritating voice. _Just to shut you up,_ she told it.

"Riiiiiiiiight…" it taunted in reply.

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When Draco exited the Cafeteria, glaring murderously at anyone who dared to glance at him, he realized that he didn't know where to go. Sighing pitifully, he plopped his rear down on a bench nearby and closed his eyes, wishing that the day would quickly end.

At the same time, Hermione cautiously pushed open the grand oak door and peeked out, like she feared she would be attacked by whoever it was if she walked out too fast. Seeing no one, she slowly stepped outside into the bright sunlight, clearly visible from all directions.

From his perch on the wooden bench, Draco was hidden from the rest of the world by a few trees in front of him, but he could see everything through the branches. When he heard the Cafeteria door swing open, his eyes flew open on instinct.

His eyes bulged open even wider when he saw who had exited the Cafeteria. There was no mistaking that head of bushy brown hair.

"No… bloody… way," he whispered to himself. "This is not possible. This is not happening." And he proceeded to pinch himself much harder than necessary, as if waking himself up from a terrible nightmare.

"Ow!" he screeched.

Alas, Draco was wide-awake, and still having the worst day of his life.

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Standing on the Cafeteria steps, Hermione slowly swiveled her head like an owl to take in her surroundings.

"Ow!" came a sudden moan of pain from behind the trees to her left.

Hermione swung her head in that direction and looked hard into the trees. There it was again: that head of shiny, silvery-blond hair. When she looked closer, she was convinced.

"No… bloody… way," she whispered to herself. "This is not possible. This is not happening." And she, too, proceeded to pinch herself, though with far less force than Draco had exerted.

As she rubbed her now sore arm, Draco slowly rose from his seat on the bench and cautiously approached Hermione, lest she whip out her wand – which she _does_ still carry around with her – and hexes him.

When he saw that she was unarmed, and as equally startled as he was, he put on his trademark smirk and sneered, "Well, well, if it isn't the Mudblood."

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**So, what do you think? Good? Bad? Should be continued? Should be thrown down the shredding machine? Please review!**

**Story Word Count **(henceforth known as SWC)**: 1970  
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	2. The Encounters

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I would be J.K. Rowling. If I was J.K. Rowling, I would have a _much_ wittier disclaimer than this. In fact, I wouldn't have a disclaimer at all. **

**A/N: I know, it's been 2 whole long weeks since my first chapter... but here's the second one! I know Hermione's a little OoC here... but it's part of the story! And as a side note, thank you to those who put my story on Story Alert! It makes me happy, and you know what would make me even happier? _Reviews!_ (hinthint)**

**And now, ladies and gentlemen, the second chapter of Running Away With You. (cue applause)**

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Hermione narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to throw a retort back at Draco, but her voice got caught in her throat, sending her into a coughing fit. And right in front of Draco Malfoy, nonetheless. Not very impressive for the smartest witch of her age, and of many other ages as well. 

The sight of Hermione glaring daggers at him while struggling to clear her throat at the same time was very amusing indeed – at least for Draco. His smirk grew even wider as he prepared to launch another insulting remark about her bloodline at her.

He had just opened his mouth when Hermione finally regained control over her shaking body. His menacing words had just passed over his tongue and nearly exited his mouth when she slapped her palm over his jaw, causing him to gag slightly. She hissed, "_Not here, Malfoy._"

Her newfound fierceness took Draco by surprise, leaving him momentarily speechless. This lack of retorts gave Hermione a chance to grab him by the sleeves and drag him away from public view.

If you were an outsider looking in on this scene, you might think that Hermione was a furious girlfriend who had just caught her devious boyfriend, who would be Draco, cheating on her. You would see Draco being dragged away by a girl who, being at least a head shorter than him, seemed much weaker than he was.

When Hermione found an isolated spot that satisfied her, she dropped Draco's sleeves and threw him to the ground. Her actions, combined with the very menacing glare she gave him at that moment, made her seem very Slytherin-like. He withdrew slightly, cautious as to what she would do next.

With her eyes narrowed to slits and her teeth gritted, Hermione hissed, "_Don't_ call me a _Mudblood!_ Especially not in the open public! Do you realize who could hear you?"

Finally out of his startled reverie, Draco quickly replaced his astonished gape with his infamous sneer. He stood up from his awkward position on the ground and brushed himself off.

"Is that all you're afraid of? Everyone will think it's just a new insult!" And he laughed a very fake-sounding, cruel laugh.

Now completely furious with Malfoy for his carelessness, she whirled upon him and slapped him full on in the face. He gasped at her rash actions, and even Hermione was startled with her own boldness.

Her eyes were blazing when she screamed at him, "It's much more to that than you think! You don't know who might start using it, thinking it's just another insult! You don't know how much trouble it could cause the whole wizarding world! You… you… idiot!"

And with another Slytherin-like glare and a whirl that Snape would be proud of, had she been wearing robes, she stormed away, leaving Draco standing there, not knowing what to do next.

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After storming away from that little confrontation with Draco, Hermione marched back to her dormitory, hoping that her roommates have already left. She sighed in relief when her door opened to reveal a very messy but empty room.

She huffily flopped down on her neatly made bed, glaring at the ceiling, still fuming about Draco bloody Malfoy.

How could he be so careless? How much more stupid could he get? And he called himself a pureblood wizard with such pride, as if he was superior to everyone else. She sneered a very Draco-like sneer, thinking about how very idiotic that Malfoy was.

Hermione's thoughts continued like this for quite some time, satisfying her frustration by visualizing multiple ways that Malfoy could be killed.

Her thoughts soon turned to her actions from that morning. In the course of ten short minutes, she had clamped her hand on Malfoy's mouth, dragged him for quite some distance, threw him to the ground, and gave a direct smack to his cheek. How very un-Hermione-like.

She sighed, thinking up reasons to convince herself of why she had acted like that. Maybe it was because, without Harry and Ron there to protect her, she had become more aggressive and self-defensive. Perhaps she had not let out her misery and anger for a long time, and she took it all out on Malfoy. Or, it was possible that she had had quite enough of Draco Malfoy and decided to teach him a well-deserved lesson.

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For a full minute after Hermione had whirled away, Draco stood rooted to the ground, back into his startled reverie. Was _this_ the same bookworm Hermione Granger who was always at the top of her grade, smartest witch for miles around?

Draco shook his head, dumbfounded at how much this girl had changed since he last saw her.

He slowly walked back to his dormitory, half-dazed at Hermione's actions. She slapped him, for Merlin's sake! He raised a hand to his cheek, gingerly touching it. It still stung where her hand connected with his flesh.

Once in his empty room, he threw himself into a very discolored, deflated-looking beanbag chair, contemplating the morning's events. How _dare_ she attack Draco Malfoy! His father would definitely be hearing about this. Oh, how that Granger will pay.

Although he had to admit, he rather liked Granger's new personality. In fact, had she been in Slytherin, not such a bookworm or a Mudblood, and actually had some decent looks, he might even be able to fancy her. (Not that he did, of course. He shuddered at the mere thought of it.) Now, if Pansy Parkinson had the personality of the new Hermione Granger and bit less lack of brain cells, she would be Draco's dream girl.

Draco spent the rest of the morning dreaming up ways that his father could severely punish Granger, all the while mentally creating the girl of his dreams.

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They didn't see each other for the rest of the day. Which wasn't all that hard, considering the fact that Hermione skipped lunch and nearly missed dinner as well because she was busy studying. Draco also missed lunch, taking the time to sit in his dormitory and write a near 20-inch letter – in small, cramped writing – to his father, complaining about Hermione Granger. And because of his lack of his usual midday meal, his stomach started complaining quite early in the afternoon, forcing him to have an early dinner.

The next week passed just as uneventfully. Of course, they passed each other in the hallways on their way to class, but never fully acknowledged the other's presence. Most of the time, they just walked past the other as if they weren't there. At most, Draco would smirk at her and Hermione would frown back in disapproval.

On Saturday at breakfast, a week after their first encounter, they saw each other in the Cafeteria again. Draco was sitting at the same table as the week before, vividly remembering how the stool had collapsed under him, so he chose a plastic foldable chair this time. Hermione saw Draco sitting there, so she made a point in selecting the table farthest from his to sit at.

This slightly disappointed Draco. The previous night, he had laid awake in bed, thinking about how he miserably hated the London Boarding School for the Academically Advanced. He had devised a plan to do something about it, but he needed Hermione's help – as much as he despised the idea of receiving assistance from Mudblood Granger, there was no other choice. He had never sent the letter he wrote to his father, thinking that she would never help him if his father knew that they were in the vicinity of each other.

Now the hard part was asking Hermione about it. Draco had planned to propose the idea to her this morning at breakfast, but she chose to sit so far away from him. He decided to stare at her until she looked up.

Hermione felt Draco's stare on her forehead. She was determined not to look up and meet his gaze. What did he want from her, anyway? Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore, so she glanced up, hoping that he had already looked away.

But no, Draco was still determinedly staring at her. When their eyes met, he held her gaze. He slowly raised an eyebrow and put a smirk on his face. She glared fiercely at him and turned away, standing up to get her food. He pushed back his chair and followed her.

She noticed him getting up and heading her way, so she abruptly changed direction and headed towards the restrooms instead. He changed his course as well.

Hermione began to feel unnerved. Why in the world was Draco Malfoy following her? She didn't _do_ anything to him since their initial encounter, so what did he want? She quickened her pace just a bit, but she heard him speed up behind her.

She decided to confront him. She suddenly stopped walking, which nearly caused Draco to crash into her. He halted just in time. Hermione whirled around (she seemed to be doing that a lot lately) to face him.

Her eyes were narrowed and her teeth were gritted, and Draco feared she was going to slap him again. He unconsciously took a step backward to put some space between them.

"_Malfoy_." She spat his name out as if the word itself tasted horrible in her mouth. "What do you want?"

Draco regained his composure and opened his mouth to start the speech he had prepared last night. But before he could say a word, however, she interrupted him.

"If you're going to tell me how your daddy dearest is going to come and slaughter me for what I did to you last week, forget it. You know just as well as I do that there is absolutely nothing he can do while I am at a _Muggle boarding school_ and he is somewhere in the wizarding world, off doing some horrendously evil task for _Voldemort_." She spat out Voldemort's name just as she spat out Draco's.

He was slightly taken aback. Indeed, this thought had occurred to Draco just as he had finished writing his letter.

Hermione continued talking. "I have done nothing to you this past week after last Saturday, so I can't even begin to imagine what in Merlin's name you want from me."

Draco cleared his throat. "I need to talk to you." He subconsciously slapped himself for having such a weak opening. "Mudblood," he added as a second thought.

She smirked and replied, "We're talking right now, _Ferret_."

He shuddered at the memory of that furry little incident in their fourth year. It wasn't pleasant in the least.

"I can see that, Granger," Draco sneered, back to his taunting self. "What I mean is, I have something of importance that I need to talk to you about."

"So talk to me about it!" she cried, exasperation showing in her voice.

"No, it needs to be discussed in private."

"All right, let's go into the ladies' room and chat," she suggested sarcastically.

He was not amused by her meek attempt at humor. "Mudblood, you don't honestly think you can be considered a _lady_, do you?" He smirked and continued, "Meet me outside the Seventh Year common room – I mean lounge – tomorrow night at 8. You better be there, Granger."

"You can bet on it, Ferret." With that, she turned on her heel and stalked away.

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**Review, pleasepleaseplease! I want to know your opinion. Constructive criticism is gladly accepted!**

**SWC: 1903  
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	3. The Day of the Filler

**Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I wasn't richer than the queen of my country. In fact, my country doesn't even have a queen! So, using deductive reasoning, I conclude that I am not J.K. Rowling, therefore I don't own Harry Potter.**

**A/N: I didn't realize I had anonymous reviews turned off! Sorry! And also sorry again about this chapter... I know it's not great. It's mostly just filler. Ehe. **

**But nevertheless, I present to you the third chapter of Running Away With You! (cue applause)**

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The rest of the day passed uneventfully. After finishing her breakfast (or at least attempting to), Hermione left the Cafeteria and headed back to her dorm room. She had a feeling that Draco was watching her every move, preparing to leave when she left, but she didn't look back.

Back in her dormitory, Hermione planned to spend the majority of the remainder of the day studying, as the midterm finals were quickly approaching (only three months away!). But her hopes were quickly shattered, for as soon as she settled in her comfy plush chair and opened her textbook, her other two roommates crashed through the door, screaming about something.

"Ohmigod, Hermione! There was this, like, really _hot _guy staring at you in the cafeteria!" the blonde one exclaimed.

"We saw you talking to him!" the one with jet-black hair continued.

"Who is he, Hermione? Is he your _boyfriend?_" Blondie squealed.

All the while, Hermione was gaping at them. She couldn't believe it. They had been _spying_ on her? After a bit, she finally realized how ridiculous she looked with her mouth hanging open while her roommates were impatiently waiting for an answer.

"No, he is _not_ my boyfriend!" she declared, her tone of voice showing that she thought this was the most absurd idea in the universe. "Do you _honestly_ think I could see anything _remotely_ boyfriend-material in _Malfoy?_"

"W-well… he's so handsome!" Black-haired Girl stated, taken aback.

At this remark, Hermione actually threw back her head laughed, as if it were the most hilarious joke she had ever heard.

"You can have him, I'm not interested," she told them.

And then, still laughing and shaking her head, Hermione stalked out of the room.

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After demanding that Hermione meet him outside the Seventh Year lounge, Draco went back to his seat and proceeded to eat a bagel. He never dropped his stare at Hermione, trying to figure out what she would do next. He watched her every move, observed how she picked at her muffin, noted how she ate half of it and then threw the rest of it away, and noticed how tense she was. She probably knew he was spying on her. He smirked at this thought.

As she left, Draco also packed up his things and prepared to leave as well. He wasn't going to follow her; he didn't want people thinking he was a psychotic stalker. No, that would not be good for the Malfoy name.

Instead, Draco headed to the recreation section of the school. He was planning to take a stroll around the miniature "lake" and plan out what he would say the following night. A Malfoy was always prepared.

His moment of peace didn't last for very long. Halfway around the "lake," Draco encountered a Sixth Year boy studying the plant life that lined the bank of the lake. The boy was muttering to himself while making illegible notes and horrid sketches in a spiral notebook. Every so often he would violently shake his head as if in disagreement with the voices that undoubtedly inhabited his misshapen head, and ferociously cross out a few lines in his notebook.

Draco stood rooted in the middle of the path, amusedly observing him. The boy was an interesting specimen.

He was just about to walk around the boy as if he was just another obstacle in the way, but the boy noticed Draco quietly slipping around him.

"Hey, you!" the boy shouted to Draco, who immediately froze, as if caught doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.

Draco slowly turned around to face the boy. "What," he stated, not a question.

"Well, I was just wondering if you could help me with my studies," the boy said, not noticing the glare Draco gave him.

"No, I'm busy," Draco replied. He turned around and had taken a step away when the boy stopped him again.

"Doing what, may I ask? All you seem to be doing is taking a walk around this body of water the school calls the lake."

Turning around again, Draco was fuming. It was true; he was just strolling around the "lake."

"All right, I'll help you for just a little bit if you'll leave me alone," he told the boy, gritting his teeth as he said it.

The boy's face lit up as if it were a Christmas light that was just plugged in. His mouth spread into a goofy grin that displayed his crooked teeth. This disgusted Draco to no end, and he automatically ran his tongue over his own teeth, making sure they were still perfectly aligned.

Oblivious to Draco's obvious disgust, the boy proceeded to give Draco instructions on what to do. Draco spent a good couple of hours "helping" the boy with his studies.

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The next morning, Hermione woke to an empty room. Her roommates were, no doubt, out searching for the "hot guy" they had seen Hermione with the day before.

Alone for once, she was finally able to spend the day studying. Before she knew it, the day had passed her by, and it was nearly eight o'clock. Time to meet Draco.

Draco didn't have the same fortune as Hermione did. He was woken up by his two other roommates jumping up and down on their beds, having a contest to see who could hit their head on the ceiling first. There was no way he could sleep through that racket, so he exited the room, shaking his head and muttering something about immaturity.

It was a very windy day. He wandered around campus, putting together his speech for that night. He purposely avoided the lake, knowing the nerdy boy would be there again, just waiting to snag him for another couple hours of boring plant studying.

At precisely eight o'clock, Hermione entered the Seventh Year lounge, looking around for Draco. When she noted that he wasn't there yet, she settled herself down on one end of a couch and flipped open a magazine.

Several minutes later, the door flew open and in stepped a very wind-blown Draco.

"You're late, Malfoy," Hermione remarked, not looking up from the pages of her magazine.

"_I'm_ late? I thought I told you to meet me _outside_ the lounge!" Draco snarled, preoccupied with trying to straighten out his hair.

"Well, Malfoy, if you hadn't noticed, there are some extremely fierce winds blowing out there, and if we stayed outside, we would've caught pneumonia!" she shot back.

Draco scowled and muttered something under his breath.

The next few minutes were spent in silence, with Hermione finishing her magazine and Draco fuming and vainly brushing through his hair with his fingers.

"So?" Hermione asked after a while.

"So what, Mudblood?" Draco growled, confused and still angry.

"So, Mr. Pureblood, what did you want to talk to me about?" Hermione snapped, as if this were completely obvious.

Draco scowled again and muttered, "I knew that."

"Of course you did, Malfoy, now what is it?" she prompted impatiently.

Determined to get his proposal through before midnight, Draco decided not to send another remark at her in reply.

He glanced around the room to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then took a deep breath and launched into his speech.

"I am a wizard – a pureblood wizard. I do not belong here at this bloody Muggle boarding school, no matter how 'academically advanced' it is. I belong in the wizarding world. I am going to leave this Muggle world and go back to the world I belong to. I refuse to spend one more minute here in this wretched place."

Draco knew how terrible it sounded. As much as he had prepared, he was unable to come up with anything better, and wrote a rushed speech at the last second.

Hermione was silent for an entire minute. "You just spent another minute here," she grinned devilishly.

"That's beside the point! You know what I mean! Idiotic Mudblood!" Draco yelled, even more furious than before.

She was doubled over in laughter. He was breathing heavily, trying to restrain himself from hurting her in every way possible.

Finally, Hermione calmed down, wiping a tear from her eye. Still snickering, she said, "I dislike this place just as much as you do, but what do you want me to do about it? I can't very well destroy the school just because we don't like it."

"I know that, Granger! That's why I have a plan! But as much as I'm going to regret it, I need your help with it," Draco stated.

"Is it dangerous? Does it involve killing or anything violent?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Unfortunately, no," he smirked. "It would make it so much easier if it did, but then I know you wouldn't participate. So I've gone through the trouble and eliminated those parts from the plan."

"Thank you _so_ much for your consideration, Malfoy," she said sarcastically. "So tell me, what's this plan of yours?"

"All right, this is what we're going to do," Draco began…

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**Bwahaha, a cliffhanger! You know you want to review!**

**SWC: 1503  
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